This invention relates to providing advertisement information, including advertising as well as sales promotions, on chip cards (sometimes called xe2x80x9csmart cardsxe2x80x9d) that additionally involve an electronic money rebate to the consumer, and to the distribution, redemption, and processing of the associated electronic money rebate.
Advertisement, Promotion, and Coupon Background
Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/061,879, filed Apr. 17, 1998, entitled xe2x80x9cCHIP CARD SYSTEMxe2x80x9d, describes delivery of xe2x80x9cadvertisement informationxe2x80x9d to chip cards. xe2x80x9cAdvertisement informationxe2x80x9d includes two distinct elements: (1) advertising, and (2) sales promotions (which, together, is referred to herein synonymously as xe2x80x9cadvertisement informationxe2x80x9d or an xe2x80x9cASPxe2x80x9d).
Advertising is widely recognized as a communication, usually by an identified sponsor, of a persuasive message about, products, ideas, and/or services to an audience. Advertisers commonly seek to enhance components of their xe2x80x9cbrandxe2x80x9d, which include awareness, image, positioning, preference, and loyalty. Advertisers generally try to increase sales of the advertised product or service (or improve the acceptance of an idea or concept conveyed by the advertising) by persuading the audience to choose their brand.
Many successful advertising campaigns employ a memorable slogan or catch phrase that is utilized as the advertising""s persuasive element. The slogan or catch phrase is often used over long periods of time to enhance the various components of the advertiser""s xe2x80x9cbrandxe2x80x9d. In some cases the slogan or catch phrase is used over decades. Nike""s(trademark) xe2x80x9cJust Do Itxe2x80x9d (trademark), Avis""(trademark) xe2x80x9cWe Try Harderxe2x80x9d(trademark), and Wheaties""(trademark) xe2x80x9cBreakfast of Championsxe2x80x9d(trademark) are other well-known examples of persuasive advertising slogans that have formed the basis for highly successful advertising campaigns. Many successful advertising campaigns also use memorable images or icons to help make their advertisements persuasive and compelling. Examples of persuasive images or icons include the familiar Nike(trademark) xe2x80x9cswooshxe2x80x9d(trademark) mark, the Eveready(trademark) Energizer Bunny(trademark), and Kellogg""s(trademark) Tony the Tiger(trademark).
Persuasive appeal to the audience""s emotions and feelings is an element frequently found in advertising. Examples of these emotions and feelings can include, among many others, one""s sense of romance, fun, adventure, style, accomplishment, desire, humor, confidence, nostalgia, curiosity, and determination. Miller Lite""s(trademark) xe2x80x9cTaste""s great, less fillingxe2x80x9d(trademark) series of advertisements appealed to one""s sense of humor and successfully persuaded consumers to purchase more Miller Lite(trademark) beer. Another famous example is the U.S. Army""s(trademark) long running xe2x80x9cBe all that you can bexe2x80x9d(trademark) advertising campaign, which appealed to one""s sense of determination and adventure to persuade more individuals to join the Army.
The other component of xe2x80x9cadvertisement informationxe2x80x9d is sales promotions. Sales promotions are typically short-term incentives designed to prompt immediate action on the part of the consumer to purchase a service or product. Examples of sales promotions include rebates, samples, contests, and discount coupons. Sales promotions generally entail a person receiving something that has some monetary value such as a coupon or free product sample. Sales promotions can also involve a person merely hoping to receive something of economic value, such as contest winnings.
Advertising and sales promotions are frequently used together as part of a complete marketing program for a product or service because of the distinct advantages offered by each. For example, the makers of Wonder Bread(trademark) might utilize a coupon sales promotion in an attempt to quickly attract customers who typically purchase other breads. At the same time, the makers of Wonder Bread(trademark) might use an advertising campaign that seeks to build their xe2x80x9cbrandxe2x80x9d by repeatedly using a persuasive slogan such as xe2x80x9cWonder helps build bodies 12 waysxe2x80x9d(trademark), which may help create brand loyalty by appealing to the consumer""s desire to become strong and healthy by eating Wonder Bread(trademark).
Coupons have historically been one of the most widely used forms of sales promotions. Coupons generally offer the consumer a discount for purchasing a product or service. There are three basic types of coupons: (1) manufacturer""s coupons (which areusually redeemed through participating retailers); (2) store coupons; and (3) in-ad coupons.
Coupon Industry Terms (quoted from Couponsxe2x80x94A Complete Guide: Joint Industry Coupon Guidelines, Joint Industry Coupon Committee, Grocery Manufacturers of America, Wash. D.C., 1998.)
Manufacturer""s Couponsxe2x80x94Coupons issued by a manufacturer offering consumers a specific amount off the purchase price of one or more of the manufacturer""s products. The coupons may be distributed through a variety of mediaxe2x80x94in the manufacturer""s newspaper or magazine ads; in a free-standing insert, or on a product package, by mail or door-to-door delivery, etc.
Store Couponsxe2x80x94A coupon printed by a retailer and available to shoppers in the store, either in a special flyer or at the shelf or display where the couponed product is stocked.
In-ad couponsxe2x80x94Coupons in a particular retailer""s newspaper ad or handbill that are redeemable on the specific product only at the particular store or chain. The coupons are usually issued under a special agreement between the retailer and the manufacturer of the product.
Free-standing insert (FSI)xe2x80x94A group of manufacturers""color advertisements (each of which usually includes a coupon) printed as a separate section and inserted into a local newspaper, usually the Sunday edition.
Redemptionxe2x80x94The cashing-in of coupons when merchandise is purchased in order to obtain discounts or premiums.
Retail Clearinghousexe2x80x94An independent company used by a retailer to sort, count and submit coupons for payment to manufacturers or their agents on behalf of the retailer.
Coupon Clearinghousexe2x80x94Processes coupons from grocery and other stores and sends them to manufacturers or their agents for payment.
Cross Couponxe2x80x94(Also called cross-ruff coupon.) A manufacturer""s coupon that is placed inside a product or printed, on the package and is redeemable on the purchase of a different product.
Universal Product Code (U.P.C.)xe2x80x94A combination of vertical bars printed on product packages (or on coupons) that can be xe2x80x9creadxe2x80x9d by an electronic scanner at the checkout to identify the item, automatically look up the item""s price (or the coupon""s value) in a computer, and instantaneously ring-up the price (or the value) on the cash register.
Family Codexe2x80x94The three digit number found immediately after the manufacturer ID code on a coupon U.P.C. It is used to validate a coupon automatically against a specific product or group of products at the point-of-sale.
Refund or Rebate Certificatexe2x80x94A certificate issued by the manufacturer that offers consumers money back on the purchase price of a product. Usually after they mail some proof of purchase to the manufacturer.
Misredemptionxe2x80x94Coupons that were not redeemed properly for the correct products in accordance with the stipulations printed on the particular coupon.
The media most commonly used to distribute coupons has been FSI""s. For instance, FSI""s delivered over 80% of grocery coupons in 1996. The other leading distribution media are handouts, magazines, newspapers, and direct mail. These types of sales promotions have traditionally been in the form of paper coupons and rebates which the consumer must, for instance, clip out of a newspaper or magazine. Consumers often clip and collect multiple coupons, store them in a purse or wallet, and take them to a store for redemption. At the store, the consumer presents the coupons at the cash register, where the coupons are verified and entered into the retailer""s point-of-sale system manually or by scanning a UPC code on the coupon. Recent innovations have included incorporation of point-of sale scanning technology and the encoding of coupon information into coupon-specific UPC codes. Clearinghouses become involved in the process primarily because paper coupons are labor intensive and cumbersome and neither the manufacturer nor the retailer is interested in investing in supporting paper coupon processing.
Paper couponing has numerous disadvantages: (1) the manufacturer must pay the cost of printing and distributing the coupons and rebate forms to a mass audience, with the hope of getting a redemption rate of approximately two percent; (2) the manufacturer must pay the clearing house and the retailer for their role in handling and processing the redeemed coupons (retailers are usually paid about eight cents per coupon for handling costs): (3) the process of clipping coupons is very time consuming and inefficient for the consumer, as they have to sort through many offers that they have no interest in; (4) the coupon redemption process at the point-of-sale is very time consuming and slows down the retailer""s check-out lines; (5) the retailer must pay the discount to the consumer immediately at the point-of-sale, while having to wait to be reimbursed by the manufacturer through the clearing house; and (6) there are high misredemption and fraud rates.
In recent years, there have been a number of improvements to the coupon distribution and redemption system to address some of these problems. Some companies now specialize in more targeted distribution of coupons by direct mail. In the last several years, the Internet has become a very popular mechanism for distributing coupons and rebates to consumers. Coupons distributed from the Internet will typically take the form of either coupons printed by a consumer""s personal computer (Christenson U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,886) or loaded electronically onto a smart card (Powell U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,044). Distribution may also occur via a processing center in communication with both the website from which the consumer requested the coupon and the retailer at. which the consumer redeemed the coupon by purchasing the associated product (Kepecs U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,411).
Several companies now offer systems at the point-of-sale that provide the retailer with faster clearing of coupons. Some systems have the coupons fed into a machine which either electronically redeems the coupon and discounts the purchase price (and shreds the coupon so it cannot be reused), or the coupons are ejected from the machine if the UPC code does not match the consumer""s current purchases.
Several systems have been developed which incorporate the use of chip cards (smart cards) for coupon distribution and redemption (Haddad U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,806; Powell U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,044; Valencia U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,991; Kepecs U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,411). The use of chip cards for couponing systems addresses the problems of customer convenience (no clipping is needed), more targeted distribution of coupons, misredemptions, fraud, high handling costs for the manufacturer and/or retailer, and speed of redemption at the point-of-sale.
The disadvantage of all these existing chip card couponing systems is that they utilize the conventional coupon redemption system, wherein the retailer initially pays for the cost of the discount, by reducing the purchase price that the retailer receives for the product or service. The manufacturer subsequently reimburses the retailer for the cost of the redeemed coupon. Typical delays from time of purchase to the retailer receiving reimbursement for the discount range from 1-3 weeks.
Incentives may sometimes even take the form of paying the consumer to view advertisement information. For instance,, Goldhaber (U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,008) describes paying consumers for viewing advertisements, particularly Internet advertising.
Credit Card and Chip Card Background
Credit cards developed from oil company, restaurant and department store charging accounts which predated the present electronic systems by several decades. In the 1960s and 1970s, credit card usage expanded as consumer finance was made more readily available and became an important source of revenues for banks. Credit cards are similar to debit cards (and we use xe2x80x9ccredit cardxe2x80x9d herein to refer to both); they are distinguished from debit cards by having; access to a line of credit made available to the cardholder by the card issuer. They generally require four separate parties to each transaction: the cardholder, the merchant selling the goods or services, the merchant acquirer processing the credit card payment, and the card issuer. In certain cases, the merchant acquirer and credit card issuer will be the same company.
Credit cards can take the form of chip cards by the insertion of a microprocessor, memory, or both, into the card. This allows for storage and processing of data on the card itself. A stored-value chip card (sometimes termed an xe2x80x98electronic pursexe2x80x99 or xe2x80x98e-pursexe2x80x99) differs from a credit card or chip card without stored-value functionality in that the data stored on the card includes, in an encrypted format, data that represents a cash value. This stored digital cash value can e deducted from the card at the time of sale in a transaction that is strictly between the Point of Sale (POS) terminal and the stored-value chip card. At time of settlement and clearing (electronic data capture), usually conducted during off-hours, that digital cash value is transferred to the merchant""s bank account via the traditional credit networks. The standard xe2x80x9cEMV ""96 Integrated Circuit Card Specification for Payment Systems Version 3.1.1 May 31, 1998xe2x80x9d describes credit cards containing an integrated circuit (i.e. a nonstored-value chip card.) Systems have been developed for storing coupons and other sales promotions on chip cards (Powell, U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,044; Haddad, U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,806; Nemirofsky, U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,416).
Chip cards can be used in two types of operating environments: closed systems or open systems. A closed system is managed in a contained environment where there is a single card issuer, who also acts as the sole service provider. A proprietary card is issued to customers of the service provider for exclusive use at its facilities. Because the issuer, service provider, and also at times the acquirer are a single entity, there is no need for a system operator to clear transactions with other parties. Closed systems are typically used in applications such as transit systems, colleges and universities, public telephones, theme parks, military bases, prisons, and large corporations. An open system, on the other hand, accommodates multiple issuers and allows consumers to use their cards at multiple locations and merchants. Because there are multiple issuers and acquirers, an open system involves a greater degree of complexity than a closed one. An open system requires a clearing and settlement function to move funds between issuers and acquirers; demands greater security; and necessitates a standard infrastructure among all participants.
Credit Card Industry Terms
Merchant Acquiring Financial Institutionxe2x80x94A bank or other financial institution that has a business relationship with a merchant and receives all credit card transactions from that merchant.
Card Issuing Financial Institutionxe2x80x94A bank or other financial institution which issues credit cards to the customer.
Authorizationxe2x80x94Approval of a credit card transaction for a merchant by the card-issuing bank.
Authorization Codexe2x80x94assigned by the card issuing bank to a credit card sale to show that the transaction is authorized.
Electronic Data Capturexe2x80x94Entering and processing the sales drafts by electronic methods. Typically, a credit card sale authorization is obtained at the time of the purchase, and then at night the sales draft is electronically captured by sending in batch the day""s sales drafts from the Point of Sale (POS) terminal to be processed by the Acquirer. In online payment schemes, capture is used to denote the electronic deposit of the sales draft with the Acquiring bank.
Sales draftxe2x80x94An instrument showing an obligation on the cardholder""s part to pay money, (i.e. the sale amount), to the card issuer. This is the piece of paper that you sign when making a purchase with your credit card.
Interchange (or transaction) Feexe2x80x94A fee a credit institution charges in order to process a credit card transaction involving a cardholder""s account. This fee is regulated by an institution such as MasterCard and Visa, and is a percentage of the total transaction amount. The exact definition of this will change depending on which institution is involved. (See table 1 below).
Discount (or disbursement) feexe2x80x94A percentage of the retail sale paid as a fee to a credit institution for processing the credit card transaction. The exact definition of this will change depending on which institution is involved. (See table 1 below).
Payment Systems Background
Stored value is a relatively recent innovation to electronic payment systems. Stored value is an xe2x80x9cintangible electronic obligationxe2x80x9d(21st Century Money Banking and Commerce, Vartanian, Thomas, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson, Washington, D.C., 1998) stored on a computer, smart card, or other electronic storage device such as a personal digital assistant. Common examples of stored value systems are prepaid phone cards, mass transit cards, or electronic money stored on chip cards.
Depending on the context, the term xe2x80x9cmoneyxe2x80x9d will take on different meanings. In the Uniform Commercial Code, money is defined as xe2x80x9ca medium of exchange authorized or adopted by a foreign or domestic government,xe2x80x9d 1-201(24). xe2x80x9cThus, the traditional parlance of commercial law, like common parlance, considers many forms of payment such as checksxe2x80x94to be substitutes for money rather than money itself.xe2x80x9d (Payment Systems and Credit Instruments, Gillette, Clayton, The Foundation Press, Inc., Westbury, N.Y., 1996.) This definition of money is often termed xe2x80x9clegal tenderxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ccurrencyxe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9ccashxe2x80x9d. In the economics literature, however, xe2x80x98moneyxe2x80x99 has a broader definition: it consists of whatever is accepted in exchange for goods and services. In the economists""definition, governmentally approved or issued currency constitutes only one subset of money, called xe2x80x98fiat money.xe2x80x99 (Id.) In describing the present invention, we use the term xe2x80x9celectronic moneyxe2x80x9d to mean the electronic equivalent of xe2x80x9cmoneyxe2x80x9d in the economics literature, namely, whatever is accepted in exchange for goods and services, including government issued currency as well as checks and credit cards. Not included in this definition of xe2x80x9celectronic moneyxe2x80x9d are such things as loyalty rebate systems as exemplified by frequent flyer miles, or other loyalty point systems wherein the frequent flyer miles or other type of points accumulated can be traded in by the consumer for additional goods or services, and in some cases even for cash. Despite the fact that in some cases the loyalty points may be redeemed for cash, the points are not money within the scope of the present definition in two respects: (1) the face value they are assigned is in units other than monetary units, e.g. xe2x80x98milesxe2x80x99 or xe2x80x98pointsxe2x80x99, and only secondarily are these units equated with monetary value; and (2) the monetary value that is assigned to a xe2x80x98pointxe2x80x99 or xe2x80x98milexe2x80x99 is discounted from its barter value, for example, a consumer could redeem 1000 points for an item worth $100 in retail value, but if they were to redeem it for cash it might only be worth $20.
Electronic Purse Terms
An electronic purse or electronic wallet is an application program for managing, and memory locations for storing, electronic money on an electronic device. Typically the device is a chip card, but may also be a personal computer or other electronic device. Electronic purse schemes function the same as other chip card payment systems except for the additional function of loading electronic money onto the cards, a function that is not present in traditional credit card schemes.
Acceptorxe2x80x94the Merchant operating the POS terminal
Acquiring Technical Operatorxe2x80x94Collects the Purchase and Purchase Cancellation Traces stored in the POS terminals and delivers to Purse Providers.
Funding Bankxe2x80x94Credits the Purse Provider (directly or via the Loading Operator), from the funding account, with the amount to be loaded in the chip card electronic purse.
Loading Operatorxe2x80x94Operates Load Devices for accepting the cardholder""s request for loading electronic money. These may or may not be POS terminals and loading operator may or may not be a Merchant.
Purse Providerxe2x80x94Loads electronic money into the purse and therefore controls the creation of electronic money and guarantees that electronic money.
Purse Scheme Administratorxe2x80x94Defines operational rules for and manages the purse system, e.g. VISA for the VISA Cash system.
Settlementxe2x80x94A process performed by the Purse Provider. Based on data from Purchase and Load transactions, payment is effected from the Purse Provider to the Acquiring Bank and, when loaded against other means of payment, from the Loading Operator to the Purse Provider.
We have discovered a method for using chip cards as a vehicle for delivering advertisement information to consumers and for electronically rebating the consumer with electronic money either for the delivery of that advertisement information or for the purchase of specific products. Preferably, our invention is used to deliver targeted advertisement information and to rebate the consumer for receiving that information and for purchasing the particular products associated with that information.
In a first aspect the invention features a method for providing advertisement information and associated rebates in connection with the use of a chip card of the type containing a memory. The method comprises downloading advertisement information onto the chip card when the card is used by the user. The advertisement information includes information identifying one or more products with which a rebate is associated. The advertisement information is stored on the chip card. During a purchase transaction when the chip card is used to purchase a product, the system determines whether a rebate is associated with the product being purchased, and if a rebate is associated with the product, a rebate in the form of electronic money is entered into the memory of the card during the purchase transaction. By xe2x80x9cproductxe2x80x9d we mean either a tangible item such as food or clothes, but also services rendered where no tangible item is transferred in the transaction.
In a second aspect, the invention features a method of rewarding users with electronic money rebates for downloading advertisement information and associated rebates to their chip cards. The method comprises downloading advertisement information onto the chip card when the card is used by the user, storing the advertisement information on the chip card, and entering a rebate in the form of electronic money into the memory of the card as a reward to the user for downloading the advertisement information.
Advantages of the invention can include one or more of the following. The invention provides a means for a consumer to redeem coupons at the point of purchase and yet allow the retailer to receive full price for all items being purchased. The retailer does not to have to get involved in the redemption of coupons; where previously retailers were forced to carry large accounts receivable associated with the money owed to them by coupon clearinghouses and manufacturers, they can now receive the full, non-discounted price for the transaction. Handling and processing costs normally associated with paper coupons will be significantly reduced. The invention may also motivate the consumer to make future purchases because the incentive in the form of electronic money is not xe2x80x98exercisedxe2x80x99 immediately at the time of purchase as in the case of a coupon discount, but rather the electronic money is designed to be used at a subsequent purchase or other transaction. The invention is superior to other forms of chip card based loyalty systems in that the consumer receives electronic money as opposed to xe2x80x98pointsxe2x80x99. The points can be redeemed by only one or, at most, a limited number of commercial entities; electronic money, on the other hand, will be as ubiquitous as the use of chip cards which can already be used in place of hard currency in a variety of locations. It also provides a means of automatically distributing advertising revenues to the various parties via electronic financial transaction networks.
The system preferably includes a plurality of cards incorporating integrated circuits (xe2x80x9cchip cardsxe2x80x9d) and a communication and processing network for loading advertisement or sales promotion (ASP) data to and from a chip card and for performing financial transactions electronically. The communication network is preferably comprised of one or more point-of-sale (POS) terminals which communicate with the chip cards at the time of sale; a first computer network capable of communicating with the POS terminals via a communication channel such as standard telephone lines or Ethernet-based local area networks (LAN""s), or wide-area networks (WAN""s) typically termed the xe2x80x9cmerchant acquirer networkxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cacquirerxe2x80x9d; a second computer network capable of communicating with the acquirer via the communication channels just mentioned, and bills the consumer for any credit chargesxe2x80x94typically termed the xe2x80x9cCard Issuerxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cIssuerxe2x80x9d; a third computer network capable of communicating with both the Acquirer and Issuer networks and which manages the process of collecting storing and distributing the ASP contentxe2x80x94termed the xe2x80x9cAdvertising Affinity Operatorxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cAffinity Operatorxe2x80x9d; and the Advertiser generating the ASP content. The Acquirer and Issuer networks may be combined in a single or distributed network and may also incorporate the Affinity Operator network into a single network resulting in a configuration comprising only the chip card, the chip card reader, and the transaction network made up of the Acquirer, Issuer, and Affinity Operator functions.
The communication and processing network for transmitting data to and from the chip card may or may not be the same as the communication and processing network engaged in the purchase transaction. For instance, the communication network would be separate in the case where the ASP was downloaded onto the chip card off of an Internet website using a personal computer or from a cellular phone with a chip card communication port and then the consumer subsequently uses the chip card to make a purchase which used the rebate stored on the chip card at a xe2x80x98bricks-and-mortarxe2x80x99 retail location. On the other hand, the communication network is integral to the credit card transaction network in the case where the ASP is downloaded to the chip card at the point-of-sale.
A particular ASP can be stored onto the chip card preferably based on customer information available either on the chip card or on the communication network. The ASP may also be loaded at the time a customer uses a chip card to purchase an item. The ASP may be served either directly from the POS terminal or in-store network or from the Affinity Operator""s advertisement information server. In the case where the advertisement information server resides at the merchant location in either the POS terminal or the merchant""s computer network, the ASPs would be loaded during electronic data capture, off-hours. ASP server decision rules for choosing which ASPs to load would also be loaded, if necessary, during electronic data capture. Information is stored on the customer""s chip card, which allows the ASP server to determine which ASP is most appropriate for that particular customer. The types of items currently being purchased by the customer as well as the merchant type are combined with the chip card information to determine which ASP is served to the chip card.
At the time a customer uses the chip card with the particular ASP to purchase the associated item, the rebate associated with that ASP is converted from having a potential monetary value (i.e., purchases cannot yet be made with the monetary value) to real value, or electronic money, in a so-called electronic purse that can be used for purchases. In distinction to current practice, the incentive value is not deducted from the amount due from the consumer to the retailer. The retailer thus receives full price from the consumer and no longer needs to concern themselves with either managing paper coupons or with having to wait for the refund from the various coupon clearinghouses or manufacturers. This electronic money as a result of the purchase of the item and use of the ASP can be stored in the chip card memory in a number of possible forms such as being added to a single value that represents stored cash value or modifying a flag associated with the ASP that indicates that the monetary incentive value is available for use in purchases. There may also be a means for allowing for the multiple use of the rebate associated with the ASP so that the rebate is available for more than one purchase. For instance, the multiple rebate capability may take the form of Loyalty Rebating in which the rebate value is increased as more purchases of that item are made by the consumer.
Alternatively, the rebate may not be stored on the chip card, but rather would be stored either at the point-of-sale or on the communication and processing network. At the time of purchase, the ASPs stored on the chip card would be compared with rebates available either at the point-of-sale or on the communication and processing network and the appropriate incentive rebate values determined and loaded onto the chip card electronic purse.
Additionally, electronic money may be put into the electronic purse as a result of loading the ASP onto the chip card, without any concomitant purchase of the product associated with that ASP. The system could be so configured such that the amount of electronic money loaded with each new ASP would be a function of how much information the consumer was willing to share to provide better targeting of the ASP provided; the more user-characterizing information allowed by the consumer for targeting, the more they would be rebated per ASP downloaded.
The chip card may or may not incorporate an electronic display for showing the advertisement directly on the card. If there is no display on the card, an ad can be stored as a text, sound, graphics, or video file such as JPEG or MPEG or as a pointer, e.g. a URL to an Internet site that has the advertisement.
Other embodiments may include one or more of the following features:
The step of varying the value of the rebate may be associated with a product based on purchases made by the user.
The value of the rebate may be varied based on the number of purchases the user has made.
The value of the rebate may be increased with increasing number of purchases of the product associated with the rebate.
The value of the rebate may be varied based on the duration over which the user has made purchases.
The value of the rebate may be increased with increasing duration over which the user has made purchases of the product associated with the rebate.
The chip card may have a flexible electronic display for display of the advertising information.
The display may list products that the card holder desires to purchase.
The display may also show the value of the rebates associated with the products listed.
The display may also show the total of rebates possible using all of rebates available for products on the list.
More than one list may be displayed to show products organized by product type, manufacturer, or merchant.
The advertising information may be downloaded using a personal computer from sites on a network such as the Internet.
The value of the rebate may be downloaded onto the chip card with the download of the advertisement information, and the step of entering the rebate into the memory of the card as electronic money may comprise loading the amount of the rebate into the electronic purse of the chip card.
The value of the rebate may be stored on a computer network or a point of sale terminal until the time of a purchase at which a rebate is made to the user.
The advertisement information may be downloaded to said chip card using one or more of the following devices: a cash register or other point-of-sale device, a personal computer, a portable chip card reader, a handheld device, a home or business telephone, a pay telephone, a vending machine, a cellular phone, a pager, a mass transportation payment station, a television and/or television set top box, and an automatic teller machine (ATM).
The rebate may be entered into the memory of the chip card by the user at one or more of the following devices: a cash register or other point-of-sale device, a personal computer, a portable chip card reader, a handheld device, a home or business telephone, a pay telephone, a vending machine, a cellular phone, a pager, a mass transportation payment station, a television, television set top box, and an automatic teller machine (ATM).
The rebate in the form of electronic money may be spent, transferred, or converted into coins or currency by the user using one or more of the following devices: a cash register or other point-of-sale device, a personal computer, a portable chip card reader, a handheld device, a home or business telephone, a pay telephone, a vending machine, a cellular phone, a pager, a mass transportation payment station, a television, television set top box, and an automatic teller machine (ATM).
Downloading to the chip card of advertising information may be blocked based on one or more of the following: (1) a family code associated with the advertisement information, (2) information identifying the manufacturer of the product, and, (3) the value of the rebate.
Product returns/refunds designed to fraudulently keep the rebate already stored on the chip card may be prevented by requiring that product refunds be processed using the same chip card, and by having the electronic money rebate that is associated with the returned product deducted from electronic money stored on the chip card.
Older advertisement information for which the associated rebate has not been redeemed may be purged from the chip card memory, so that memory is freed up for storing new advertisement information.
The electronic money of the rebate may be erased if not spent by an expiration date.
The advertisement information and rebates may be part of a retailer""s private loyalty program.
Thumbnails of the advertisement information may be downloaded so the user can view the advertisement information on either a personal computer or on the chip card display.
The advertisement information may include a hyperlink or other Internet link so that user can insert the chip card into a computer or other Internet capable device and be linked to a website where a rebate can be redeemed or where previously redeemed electronic money from a rebate can be spent online.
Payment of the rebate may be made dependent on timing and/or frequency of cardholder purchases or visits to a particular store.
Payment of the rebate may be provided at multiple intervals.
The advertisement information may be loaded onto the chip card with a set date or range of dates when the rebate is valid.
The user""s target preference level may be stored on the chip itself, to enhance protection of privacy.
The cardholder may be allowed to view the target preference level stored on the chip card by using a personal computer.
The value of the rebate may be greater for frequent, loyal shoppers than for shoppers that make one-time purchases only for a short time period.
The user may be paid a manufacturer""s rebate and a retailer""s rebate for the same purchase.
The Affinity Operator may also be the operator of the electronic purse.
Records of electronic money rebate payments to users may be maintained in a database for a time period for the purpose of permitting audits of the payment data by the manufacturers or other party that is paying for the rebates.
The manufacturer or issuer of the rebates may pay to the Affinity Operator an up front fee at the commencement of a rebate program, based on an estimate of rebates that the parties expect to be redeemed, and a settlement process occurs later, whereby the Affinity Operator may provide the rebate issuer with a reconciliation showing additional amounts due the Affinity Operator or any refunds due to the issuer based on the actual number of rebate redemptions that occurred. In the case of ATM xe2x80x98cash machinesxe2x80x99, the ATM may allow for customer input regarding the type of product about which they are interested in receiving discounts and information on the ATM display during the time that the customer is waiting for the transaction to be processed.
When the purchase is made over the Internet, the customer would have a chip card reader connected to their personal computer. Since the bandwidth of the communication channel is sufficient to support real time download of at least text, sound, and graphics images (and short video files in the case of data rates rates higher than 100 kbps), the advertising server may be located on the Affinity Operator""s network. Information characterizing the customer can be entered and stored either on the customer""s personal computer or on the Affinity Operator""s network. The invention may be used as part of a method for providing advertisement information and associated electronic money rebates in connection with the use of a chip card of the type containing a memory, the method comprising: downloading advertisement information onto the chip card when the card is used by the user; storing the advertisement information on the chip card; displaying the advertisement information either on a display built into the card or on a display on a device with which the card communicates; determining, when a particular product is purchased, whether there is an incentive associated with that particular product; and if the result of said determination is positive, then electronic money is stored non-volatilely in the chip card""s memory.
The advertisement information stored on the chip card may be the advertisement information, itself, or an address or hyperlink (e.g., URL) to a location where the advertisement information is stored on a network with which the card communicates. The address or hyperlink may be associated with a thumbnail of the actual advertisement information. The thumbnail may have enough content to, itself, be advertisement information, or it may constitute only a hyperlink to the advertisement information.
The advertisement information downloaded to the chip card may be selected from a plurality of possible advertisement information, and the selection may be based at least in part on information characterizing the user.
The selection may be based at least in part on at least some of the user identification information stored on the card.
The downloading of the advertisement information onto the chip card may occur in connection with a transaction. The transaction may be a purchase made using the chip card to pay for the purchase. The purchase may be made at a POS terminal. The purchase may be of communication services using a card adapted to purchase the communication services. The communication services may comprise telephone service, and the chip card may be a telephone calling card. The purchase may be usage of a toll road, and the purchase may be made by wireless communication with the chip card as a vehicle containing the card passes a location on the toll road. Information identifying the downloaded advertisement information may be downloaded onto the chip card. At least some of the information characterizing the user may be stored in the memory of the chip card, or at least some of the information characterizing the user may be stored on a computer network to which the chip card can be connected. Stored on the chip card may be information representative of the number of times that the advertisement information has been displayed. Stored on the chip card may be information representative of whether the chip card has been used to purchase a product or service related to the advertisement information downloaded onto the chip card. Stored on the chip card may be information representative of whether the chip card has been used to purchase a product or service related to the advertisement information downloaded onto the chip card, and information representative of the number of times that the advertisement information has been displayed prior to the time of the purchase. The information can be stored on a computer network to which the chip card can be connected, or in a memory on the chip card as part of an affinity record.
The method may include downloading to the chip card information identifying the downloaded advertisement information; relating in a database the information identifying the downloaded advertisement information, the information representative of the number of times that the advertisement information has been displayed, and the information representative of whether the chip card has been used to purchase a product or service related to the advertisement information downloaded onto the chip card. This information may be related to information representative of the number of times that the advertisement information has been displayed prior to the time of the purchase. The information may be stored on the chip card, and may be uploaded from the chip card to the database, which resides on a computer network. The uploading of the information from the chip card may occur at the time the chip card is used in a transaction, or during the settlement and clearing operation performed following a transaction.
The method may include operating an advertising distribution service that receives advertisement information from advertisers, stores the advertisement information on a computer system connected to a computer network, and downloads the advertisement information over the computer network to the chip card.
The advertisement information may be downloaded to merchants in advance of downloading of the advertisement information to the chip card, the merchants may store the advertisement information locally, and the advertisement information may be downloaded, from the local storage, to the chip card at the time that the user enters into a transaction with the merchant. The advertisement information may be stored remotely from a merchant, and downloaded to the merchant and to the chip card at the time that the user enters into a transaction with the merchant. The transaction between the user and the merchant may occur over a computer network such as the Internet. The transaction between the user and the merchant may occur in an establishment to which the user physically travels. The transaction may occur at a POS terminal. The advertising distribution service may receive revenue for distributing the advertisement information, and may share a portion of the revenue with the merchant. The amount of advertising revenue shared with he merchant may be based generally on the number of times that the advertisement information is downloaded to a chip card.
The revenue may be shared with one or more of the following additional parties: merchant acquirer, network operator, and chip card issuer. The revenue may be shared with other parties by discounting fees that the party pays in connection with the user entering into a transaction using the chip card. The revenue may be shared with other parties by payments made by the advertising service to the party.
The advertising distribution service may receive user profile information that includes at least demographic information about the user. The user profile information for a user may be used in deciding which of a plurality of advertisement information is downloaded to the chip card of that user.
The advertising distribution service may receive information over the computer network representative of the number of times that the advertisement information has been displayed, may relate the information to the advertisement information, and may provide tracking information to the advertiser.
The tracking information related to the advertisement information may further include information indicating whether a product related to the advertisement information has been purchased using the chip card.
The tracking information related to the advertisement information may further include user profile information that contains at least demographic information about the user.
The user profile information may further include psychographic information about the user.
An advertising testing campaign may be conducted in which a plurality of advertisement information for the same product or service are distributed, loaded onto chip cards, and user profiles and information on number of times of display and on purchase data may be uploaded from the chip cards for theadvertisement information, and the information may be processed to determine which of the advertisement information should be used, or which of the advertisement information should be used with particular user profiles.
The chip card may have a flexible electronic display for displaying the advertisement information.
The information characterizing the user may comprise a multi-dimensional description of the user based on demographic, psychographic, or other customer preference data.
The advertisement information downloaded to the chip card may be based on the information characterizing the customer uploaded from the chip card, a set of decision rules, and data indicating the preferred customer type to receive the particular advertisement information.
A decision rule may be used in selecting the advertisement information to be downloaded, and the decision rule may be based on the distance in an n-dimensional user profile descriptor space between the user profile and a target profile for the advertisement information.
The decision rule may include a quota system, by which the total number of downloads of advertisement information to the chip card by a particular POS or other server is limited to a predetermined maximum.
The Affinity Operator may develop a set of decision rules to determine which advertisement information should be downloaded onto a user""s card.
The Affinity Operator may collect user profile data, information identifying the advertisement information, and affinity records, incorporate the data into a database, and processed data contained within the database to develop and, on an ongoing basis, refine a predictive model of purchasing performance based on information contained with the database.
The information stored on the chip card may contain information identifying the specific product manufacturer or vendor, a product identification, and an indicator of how many displays of the advertisement information were performed prior to the customer""s first purchase of the item or items advertised.
Stored on the card may be a value that indicates the generic class or classes into which a particular product falls.
Stored on the card may be a value that indicates a price range into which the selling price of a particular product falls.
Stored on the card may be a value that indicates the version of the advertisement information downloaded to the card to distinguish from among a plurality of versions of the advertisement information, each of the versions targeted to a different user type.
The information characterizing the user comprises a user profile generated from demographic, psychographic, or other specific product preference information along with a user identification.
The user identification may be encoded to hide the identity of the user from a database used for tracking the purchasing activity of the user.
The encoding may be done so that there exists a substantially one-to-one mapping between the encoded user identification and the actual user identification.
The user identification information may be a credit or debit card number. The card type and card issuer fields of the user identification information may be left unencoded.
The transaction may be a purchase-less transaction such as an ATM transaction.
The advertisement information may be advertising.
The advertisement information may be one or more sales promotions.
The advertisement information may be stored in a memory stored within the display.
The advertisement information may be stored in a memory on the chip card separate from the display.
At least one decision rule used to select advertisement information for downloading may be based on the current date or time, so that advertisement information can be downloaded at relevant dates or times, e.g., at times at which advertising might be most persuasive (e.g., just prior to a stored birthday, or during a promotional period).
The advertisement information may be targeted. Targeting is based on demographics, psychographics, and other customer preference information that is verifiable and auditable. The advertisement information can be context sensitive, e.g., if you are currently involved in purchasing audio equipment, you don""t get an ad for toothpaste. The results of an advertising campaign are auditable and provide more than just a measure of the rate at which users click on a particular internet advertising banner, but instead provide a measure of whether or not the advertisement information resulted in additional sales leads, sales, or other traditional measures of advertising return on investment (ROI). The invention has a method for tracking and measuring the impact of frequency, i.e. the number of times advertisement information should be displayed to a particular customer before reaching the point of diminishing returns.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, including the figures, and from the claims.